Filipino Military Closing In On Rebels Holding 2 Hostages From U.s.

March 8, 2002|By Tyler Marshall Foreign Correspondent

MANILA, Philippines — The armed forces, with U.S. assistance, have determined the general location of two hostages from the United States being held by Islamic militants on the southern island of Basilan and are ready to launch operations to free them, the country's chief military spokesman said Thursday.

Brig. Gen. Edilberto Adan said he expected new sightings of missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham to come quickly, now that U.S. military personnel and high-technology surveillance and communications equipment have arrived on the island.

"Maybe in the next few days," he said. "We have a good idea of the general location of the Burnhams. We're now awaiting the results of our latest initiatives."

The Abu Sayyaf extremist group also holds a third hostage, a Filipino nurse seized from a hospital in Basilan a few days after the Burnhams' abduction in May.

Under a U.S.-Philippines agreement signed last month, 660 U.S. personnel, along with aircraft and equipment, have been deployed to the Philippines to help rescue the hostages and crush the Abu Sayyaf rebels. A total of 160 U.S. Army Special Forces troops are on Basilan, with the remaining 500 uniformed personnel in support elsewhere.

"This has increased our awareness dramatically," Adan said.

Adan described the new initiatives as a combination of three factors: P-3 surveillance aircraft patrolling overhead, U.S. specialists on the ground trained to interpret the electronic imagery and the fruits of local informants who have been offered rewards for information on the Burnhams' whereabouts. "We've had the aircraft for a while, but there was no one on the ground to interpret what they were picking up," Adan said. "Now they are in place."